IF there is one silver lining that this coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic has offered us, it is the fact that it allowed us to innovate and think outside the box. It is indeed exciting to hear Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) Chairman Prospero de Vera 3rd declare that flexible learning is here to stay and that the era of an educational system solely dependent on face-to-face classroom-based delivery is seeing its end.

CHEd, through de Vera, argues that the environment for flexible learning is now in place, and higher education institutions have already invested in capacitating their educators and learning facilitators and in upgrading their physical infrastructures. But first, it should be emphasized that flexible learning includes, and does not totally eliminate, face-to-face contact.